S Jaishankar, who is in Sweden on his first visit to the country as India's external affairs minister, on Sunday had his audience in splits, when he invoked a popular Hindi idiom while interacting with members of the Indian diaspora in Stockholm, the Nordic nation's capital and largest city.

It was not clear from the video what led to the minister using the phrase. According to reports, however, Jaishankar's response came after some Stockholm-based Indians told him that India's global stature was on the up with each passing day.

The minister, meanwhile, explained the meaning of the term and continued: “…but I actually can see this globalisation of Indian culture, happening. And it is happening for a variety of factors. One, of course, is because of the spread of the (Indian) diaspora. The second is, we ourselves, I think, are much more confidently expressing it. It's important we try to find ways of making it (globalisation of Indian culture) more universal.”

A ‘very good example’ of this, he remarked, was the International Day of Yoga, introduced by prime minister Narendra Modi, and which, since its very first iteration, has been celebrated internationally on June 21 each year.